Sunday, November 25, 2012

The financial status of my family has grown from poor (grand parents) to middle class ( parents ) to "hopefully" upper middle class during my generation. Though I wouldn't say I have faced a lot of financial issues during my lifetime, I would definitely say I have seen, learnt and to a large extent practiced spending on a need basis rather than a want basis [ few exceptions included]. And this has grown over a period of time in me with various exposures, experiences and responsibilities.

Just reflecting on this after a shopping spree during Thanksgiving 2012! My third thanksgiving in US!!

For the first one, I recollect buying nothing for myself except for body lotion for my mom and an electronic camera for Abhijith. Off course I did not have to pay for both of them. My second thanksgiving I was rather more flexible and shopped for a dress and socks if I remember. This time I had planned for a good amount of things, since I had not shopped after I started working. But my budget was very very low due to various reasons. However, I ended my shopping a whole lot [ No regrets[. This is only because I feel I am capable of handling this expense and the reason is also because the shopping items were on the border line between need and want. The human tendency to just break the rule once. I am content and should not be shopping till I plan to visit India next.

Monday, November 19, 2012

I am sure this feeling is shared by ALL of us! If not I would think something is definitely wrong with me!!! Not that I know of it already :-D

If I don't get calls from family when I expected them to call, a wish from a dear one when I felt it was needed, an update about something I think I should know...if any of these things don't happen two things follow:

1. I feel so angry with the person who did not meet my expectation ;-)
2. I feel so alone thinking no one cares for me ;-)

Well it is true and I know both 1 & 2 are just a temporary passing feeling but still once in a while I get caught up with it :-)

And then there are those days when someone does something totally unexpected:

1. A friend and a student at LSU mentioned my name in his Master's Thesis "Acknowledgement" section. I have no clue what made him do that, but it made me feel good and guilty for having my name mentioned .

2. A random person from Craigslist who has emailed me after 6 months to know I am still interested in his palce. I was the one who had contacted him 6 months ago and unfortunately he had already picked his tenant that time, He had told me he would get back to me once something comes up!

Well I always say Nature has it's own way of balancing: Some examples are
1. Boys vs Gals :-P
2. Vegetarians vs non vegetarians (Obviously)

And may be the expected being full filled by an unexpected is one of these Balancing Equations !!!

Monday, November 12, 2012

Gone are the days when I could "afford" to reset my alarm in the mornings...gone are the days when I didn't have to set an alarm during weekends...gone are the days when Friday afternoon meant no work...gone are the days when weekend meant no work and finally gone are the days when I had the luxury of TIME!

Well when someone recently told me "BUSY" is the norm now a days I agreed to it completely not knowing the implications it can have on me can be this drastic!!!! I never ever used to accept me being called "Busy Bee" by many of my friends..but I am left with no option but to call myself BUSY BEE!!! I know people say "Busy" means you have prioritized one thing over another..I would not agree to that..At times you do things out of choice, at times you do things to make others happy and at times you do things without a reason :-)

Anyways the whole point is my life is getting busier by the day and the way I justify the fact that I am unable to do many things is not my mistake completely :-)